Albany
Common Council Passes Resolution Supporting Review Of
Terror Prosecutions

08 April 2010

By Shamshad Ahmad

Albany, NY ––The City of Albany’s Common Council
passed an amended resolution on Monday that urges the
U.S. Justice Department to implement the
recommendation of its own Inspector General and
establish an independent panel to review the
convictions of Muslims who have been “preemptively
prosecuted” to ensure their fair treatment under the
Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ten council members
voted yes; four voted present. (Resolution included
below.)

A rally and march, organized by Albany’s Muslim
Solidarity Committee and attended by
citizen-representatives from several area peace,
justice, and civil liberties organizations, preceded
the start of the Common Council meeting. The Muslim
Solidarity Committee was founded in 2006 to advocate
for the families of two Albany Muslims, Yassin Aref
and Mohammed Hossain, who were convicted of terrorism
in 2006 in an FBI “sting.” Speakers in favor of the
resolution during the public comment period preceding
the council’s vote included family members from the
Newburgh 4 (New York), Fort Dix 5 (New Jersey), and
Betim Kaziu (Brooklyn) cases, members of the Capital
District’s Muslim community, the founder of a
nationwide peace and justice organization based in
Maryland, and supporters of Aref and Hossain. Two of
Mohammed Hossain’s children also spoke, as did
12-year-old Lejla Duka, daughter of one of the Fort
Dix 5.

The resolution, introduced by council members Dominick
Calsolaro, Ronald Bailey, Richard Conti, Catherine
Fahey, Anton Konev, James Sano, and Barbara Smith, was
inspired by a declassified July 2009 report by the
Justice Department’s Inspector General on domestic
surveillance programs. His report recommended that the
Justice Department carefully consider whether it
should re-examine past [terrorism] cases to see
whether potentially exculpatory evidence was collected
under President George Bush’s secret President’s
Surveillance Program (PSP), which was established in
2001 and included the National Security Agency’s (NSA)
warrantless wiretapping program. If such exculpatory
information was uncovered during a classified
surveillance operation, the government must
nevertheless provide the information to the defense or
else make adjustments, such as dropping the charges,
so that the defendant is not penalized by the fact
that the information is classified. Because so many
“preemptive” Muslim prosecutions have been based on
classified information from the PSP, the issue of
disclosure of exculpatory classified information has
always been critical in such cases.

Under the preemptive prosecution program, hundreds of
Muslims all over the country have been prosecuted and
convicted to “preempt” them from committing crimes in
the future. If people are being prosecuted before they
commit a crime, there is a substantial danger that
innocent people will be convicted who had no intention
of ever breaking the law.

Council member Dominick Calsolaro said, “We showed
that the impact of a federal government sting affects
more than just the family, it affects the community.
That people came to the Albany Common Council last
night from so far, Newburgh, Brooklyn, Cherry Hill,
New Jersey, and Maryland, shows that when the federal
government does not follow its laws, more people than
just the family are affected. I was thrilled by the
statements made by the pubic and the responses made by
the Common Council members.”

Council member Barbara Smith said, “I think the Common
Council made an important statement this evening in
calling attention to the improper prosecution and
targeting of Muslims. It is important for us to
communicate with the federal government, and this is a
good way to do it.”

Lynne Jackson, a spokeswoman for Albany-based Project
SALAM, which examines cases of unjust terrorism
prosecutions of Muslims, said “We hope that passage of
this resolution encourages other cities and counties
to pass similar resolutions, to show that citizens
demand a second look into some of the most unjust
prosecutions that withheld classified evidence, such
as the Fort Dix 5, the Newburgh 4, Betim Kaziu, Fahad
Hashmi, and possibly hundreds of other cases.”

Attorney Stephen Downs, a member of the Muslim
Solidarity Committee, said, “Albany’s Aref/Hossain
case represents a classic example of preemptive
prosecution. Two Muslims who were not involved in any
illegal activity were entrapped and framed because of
the remote possibility that they might become involved
in illegal activities at some time in the future.
Preemptive prosecution has entrapped and convicted
hundreds of other innocent Muslims essentially because
of their religion and has wreaked havoc in Muslims
families and communities all across America. The
program is illegal, unjust, and contributes nothing to
national security.”

A recent judicial decision seems to support the need
for Muslim terrorism case review. On March 31, a
federal district judge in San Francisco ruled that the
government violated the law when the NSA wiretapped
lawyers for and administrators of Al-Haramain, a
now-defunct Islamic charity in Oregon, in 2004 without
a warrant. The decision also said the government is
liable for damages. The charity was considered to have
contributed to terrorism. It is unclear whether or not
the Obama Administration will appeal the ruling. #

----------------------------

Resolution Number 39.41.10R (As Amended)

RESOLUTION URGING THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO
REVIEW THE CONVICTIONS OF MUSLIMS WHO WERE
“PREEMPTIVELY PROSECUTED” TO ENSURE THEIR FAIR
TREATMENT UNDER THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND BILL OF
RIGHTS

WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence of the United
States and the United States Constitution and the Bill
of Rights are the cornerstone of our democracy; and

WHEREAS, since 9/11 some Muslims in the United States
have been targeted by the U.S. government for
increased scrutiny, surveillance and prosecution; and

WHEREAS, the United States government created a
warrantless electronic surveillance program which
obtained secret classified information on Americans,
apparently in violation of various laws including the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the First
and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Justice and the FBI created
a program called “preemptive prosecution” in which
Muslims who are not involved in criminal activity are
targeted and prosecuted based on “secret evidence,”
often derived from warrantless electronic
surveillance; and

WHEREAS, there is a substantial probability that the
activities and programs of the U.S. government which
target a religious minority in such a manner violate
their civil rights as Americans; and

WHEREAS, in 2003 the Albany Common Council voted
unanimously to object to the Patriot Act because of
the dangers that this act posed to the civil rights
and liberties of all Americans; and

WHEREAS, in 2009 the Albany Common Council voted to
support immigrant rights in the City of Albany so that
immigrant families would not live in constant fear of
repression, jail, or deportation; and

WHEREAS, because of excessive secrecy by the U.S.
government about its warrantless eavesdropping and
preemptive prosecution programs, substantial doubt
remains as to whether hundreds of Muslims were
preemptively prosecuted, and guilty of crimes, and
whether the defendants received their civil rights
guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, including the
right to receive exculpatory information and a fair
trial; and

WHEREAS, after Senator Ted Stevens was convicted of
bribery, the Justice Department did an independent
assessment of how his case was prosecuted, determined
that exculpatory information had been withheld by
prosecutors, and dismissed the case; and

WHEREAS, the Inspector General of the Department of
Justice, in a July 10, 2009 report on U.S.
surveillance programs recommended “that Department of
Justice carefully consider whether it must re-examine
past [terrorism] cases to see whether potentially
discoverable but undisclosed Rule 16 or Brady material
was collected under the President's Surveillance
Program, and take appropriate steps to ensure that it
has complied with its discovery obligations in such
cases” (report p. 19).

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common
Council of the City of Albany requests that the U.S.
Department of Justice implement the recommendation of
its own Inspector General, and establish an
independent panel within the Department of Justice,
similar to what was done in the Stevens case, and to
what was recommended by the Inspector General, to
review all of the convictions of Muslims who were
“preemptively prosecuted” to determine if these
defendants were properly given exculpatory information
and other rights of discovery to which defendants in
criminal prosecutions are entitled, and whether these
prosecutions in all ways met the high standards of
truth, openness, fairness, and justice that are
embodied in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of
Rights.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Common Council of the
City of Albany requests that the Clerk of this Council
forward copies of this resolution to United States
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer and
United States Representative Paul Tonko.